Cost of living index

Have you ever thought of working somewhere else in the world? Do you know if it would be financially worth it?

Numbeo.com have just published their 2016 Mid Year Global Cost of Living Indexes and the lists make for interesting reading.

It’s unsurprising that stability, sophistication and economic strength makes for expensive living (Zurich, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Singapore, New York) and in these first world cities most of your salary will go towards accommodation and services. In Tokyo a 60″ flat screen television may not be a big purchase to many but few would be able to afford a living space big enough to put the television on the wall, and hiring a person to install it may cost as much as the initial purchase.

Where the surprises come are in third world cities like Hamilton (Bermuda) and Luanda (Angola) where it is excessively expensive for expats but the general population are among the poorest in the world.

Below is the abbreviated list; the full list can be found on the Numbeo website.

Worldwide Top 10 Cost of Living Index

Hamilton 135.93
Zurich 133.61
Geneva 133.40
Basel 132.57
Luanda 128.55
Bern 121.71
Lausanne 121.01
Tromso 117.71
Trondheim 110.39
Bergen 106.14

Our local cities appear to be excessively cheap in comparison:

South Africa Top 5 Cost of Living Index

Johannesburg 40.33
Port Elizabeth 38.50
Pretoria 38.07
Cape Town 37.43
Durban 35.55

Many South Africans gravitate towards the tax-free earnings in the Middle East:

Favourite Middle East Locations for Expats

Kuwait City 85.55
Dubai 69.12
Qatar 67.90
Bahrain 54.23
Riyadh 47.78